


Leaving and Saying Goodbye

by phoebesmum



Category: Sports Night
Genre: Drabble Sequence, Gen, Pre-Canon, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-02
Updated: 2009-12-02
Packaged: 2017-10-04 02:35:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phoebesmum/pseuds/phoebesmum
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The last night in Texas; tomorrow, New York – and Sports Night.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Leaving and Saying Goodbye

**Author's Note:**

> Written June 2007; triple drabble written for LiveJournal SN100 challenge #147, _Leaving_.

Dan holds up a finger and the waitress leans over him, bosom brushing his cheek, replaces his empty beer bottle, whispers, "On the house, honey." Tomorrow he'll be gone; everyone in the bar seems to know it, flocking to buy a farewell drink, get a last-minute autograph, just for a hug and a "We'll miss you." "Me too," he tells them, but he's lying; he'll step out of this old life without a backward glance, a moth slipping free of its chrysalis, no reminders, no regrets. Dallas was never his home. New York holds the key to all his tomorrows.

*

Casey's drinking water. It's an unspoken, unilateral rule: only one of them's allowed to be drunk around the other at any one time. Besides, he needs a clear head in the morning. The house is packed up, they're sleeping on bare mattresses tonight, but tomorrow's a long drive, a long day, shuffling his family and his possessions slowly cross-country, snail-like, crushed by the weight. Charlie will whine, and he can still hear Lisa's reaction: _Oh, now you're ready for New York? Let me guess what's different this time_. He doesn't dare tell her she was right. The difference is Danny.

*

Dana stopped by the bar for one quick drink, then went back to her hotel, every 'missing you already!' grating on her nerves. Handing over her job had been bad enough, like selling her soul. Without the three of them she gives _Lone Star Sports_ maybe another six months; she knows how Judas felt. But Casey and Dan deserve something bigger, better. So does she. CSC has to be the real thing; she's too old for any more false starts. She rubs the bandage on her cheek, and tries to sleep. Morning will come, she knows, far, far too soon.

***


End file.
